The radial stability and configuration transition of carbon nanotubes
(CNTs) with enclosed cores have been studied in this paper by using
atomistic simulations. We found that an abnormal transition of CNTs from
open to collapse can be regulated by enclosing deformable and rigid
cores. The energy barrier for the configuration transition can be
reduced by nearly one order of magnitude due to the presence of these
cores, i.e., from similar to 0.3 eV/angstrom to similar to 0.03
eV/angstrom. These findings may provide guidance for the design of
controllable CNT-based carrier systems for the delivery of drug, gene
and fluid. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where
otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License.